Posts Tagged ‘Mass Effect’

The first time I ever wrote anything about games, it was because I was still brokenhearted about a relationship that had dissolved years ago. PC Gamer edited the 4000 word essay into a six pager about Dota in 2012 and it is still one of the best things I have ever written. But wherever I go, whatever I do, games participate in a meaningful way in many of the relationships I see. Welcome to a special edition of S.EXE: the love letters edition. Brace yourself, you are in for chop. Here are seven stories about falling in love next to a loading screen.

Every Sunday, we reach deep into Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s 141-year history to pull out one of the the best moments from the archive. This week, John’s interview with voice actress Jennifer Hale. This post was originally published July 27, 2011.

Jennifer Hale has appeared in a great many more games than you probably realise. The person behind the voice of the female Shepard in all three Mass Effect games is also responsible for Metal Gear’s Naomi Hunter, SOCOM’s HQ, the spookily good British accent of KotOR’s Bastilla, and even the grunts and groans of Metroid Prime’s Samus, among literally hundreds of others in gaming, TV and film. We caught up with Jennifer as she drove through LA, to ask how she came to provide so many of gaming’s iconic voices, the combination of anonymity and fame, and which of the Commander Shepards she’s voting for to appear on Mass Effect’s cover.

BioWare have spoken openly about making another Mass Effect game for over a year now (not that it was ever in doubt). They’ve told us that Shepard’s story is over, that it’s time for someone new, and that it’s not called Mass Effect 4, but that’s about all. Surely, one might think, that by E3 2014 they’d be ready to say something solid about the game. Perhaps a cinematic teaser trailer. A few plot hints. A name, at the very least. They named it, didn’t they? Well, no. But BioWare have shown off a few seconds of “conceptual prototype” footage and some model renders.

They’ve also announced they’re working on something entirely new and no, they don’t have much to say about that either.

As long as this planet continues to spin, there will be a new Intriguing Kickstarter From Folks Who Used To Work On Major Triple-A Franchise X Of The Day. In this case, that Kickstarter is one for Epoch: Return, and the games that once – at least, in pieces, like so many tinker toys scattering from a bucket – emerged from developer Innate’s collective brain are Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But to be perfectly honest, Epoch doesn’t really bear much family resemblance to its distant BioWarian cousins. It takes place on a colossal, open planet that’s ripe for exploring, and you traverse it by way of high-flying momentum-based leaps that strike me as a midpoint between Mirror’s Edge and Tribes 2. It still looks rather floaty, insubstantial, and, well, early, but I definitely like the idea. Watch below.

Consider this your daily dose of nice. Artist Joey Spiotto, aka Joebot, draws films and videogames as the covers of children’s books. His game work includes imagined covers for Half-Life 2 (above, in part), Skyrim, BioShock, Portal, Mass Effect and more.Read the rest of this entry »

See – because it rhymes with “war”, and that’s a reference to a thing a man said in a TV show 37 years ago. The ever-watchful eye-turrets of Eurogamer spotted that BioWare community manager Chris Priestly took to the studio’s forums to declare calling Mass Effect 4 “Mass Effect 4″ is “doing it a disservice”. It’s a game that “does not have to come after. Or before. Or off to the side.” Meanwhile, BioWare Montreal’s head Yanick Roy has explained that Mass Effect 4 could take place after Mass Effect 3.

There are a few different ways BioWare could have reacted to their game, Mass Effect 2, being accidentally shipped in boxes of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2. It’s looking like they’ve picked the best possible one. Rather than getting upset, the studio is seeing it as splendid marketing, a promotional opportunity, and explaining to those who’ve received a copy of their game that “the universe thinks you should be playing Mass Effect right now.” They’ve gone so far as to create a competition for those with the wrong disc.

Whaaaaaat! How is it possible for there to be another Mass Effect game? Surely everything was tied up and the game universe so profoundly changed by the conclusion(s) of ME3 that there’s simply no room for more? Unless there was somehow some way to tweak and retcon a story that’s already built around ad-hoc pseduo-mythology, resurrections and space magic…. No, surely no such thing is possible. While we wait to see how Bioware take ME’s prophecy-blighted space opera to new places (I’m going to bet you play as a new character who encounters/searches for a long-lost Shepherd), what we do now know is that it’ll be departing its mucky-textured Unreal-based engine of yesteryear and moving to DICE’s impressive (and, thus far, very PC-sympathetic) Frostbite engine for the next instalment.Read the rest of this entry »

I tend to lose my sense of connection to science fictional narratives once they get into the realm of prophecies and pseudo-deities, so the idea of a return to the Mass Effect universe that’s only about the neat spaceshippy stuff and none of the Circle Of Destiny soapboxing appeals enormously. Frinstance, this unofficial mod for the TIGHT space strategy game Sins of a Solar Empire which plans to recreate the Normandy and its multi-species chums’ war against the Geth, Collectors and Reapers.Read the rest of this entry »

After hearing the news that both members of BioWare’s doctoral duo are headed for greener (or beerer) pastures, you might have worried that the studio would lose its flair for role-playing epics and start churning out farming sims, 1990s FMV adventures, or tasteful ballroom gowns. In a shocking twist, however, it’s instead going to make more Dragon Age and Mass Effect. On top of that, though, Mass Effect lead Casey Hudson and some members of his team are putting together “an all new game set in a fictional universe.” Which could mean just about anything, but anything is better than nothing. Or something. Words!

Hurrah! It’s the first proper trailer for the upcoming anime prequel Mass Effect: Paragon Lost in all its glory. And by glory, I mean of course… oh good lord, you have to be kidding. It may have Production IG involved, but we’re not exactly talking Ghost In The Shell here. The fun series, I mean. Not the boring, over-rated movie and its even more tedious sequel.

Here’s a thing that looked fake but isn’t. The notorious Mass Effect 3 ending – could it have really been hinted at in Mass Effect 1? A post on Reddit showed a planet description that seemed to describe, well, that’s a spoiler I’ll put below. But apart from the picture that had been rather hastily added, that planet is really there. I’ve flown there myself. Take a look below.

So I am busy playing through Mass Effect 3 at the moment, with my collected thoughts on the events, happenings, and systems therein to appear on Tuesday. I’ve been doing a bit of retrospective browsing over the first two games, too, and comparing events in those to the events in the third game. This process led me to wonder this: what has been your favourite event in the games so far? And why?

As a follow up question: who is your favoured character? Garrus seems like the obvious choice for acerbic/murderous sidekick, and I generally take him on missions for the sound of his voice, but I think Thane was the highlight of Mass Effect 2. Anyway: speak your brains, show your working.